


Light the fire and watch it burn

by Holtzexmachina



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Holtzbert - Freeform, I am so tired, Making This Up As I Go, Slow Build Erin Gilbert/Jillian Holtzmann, Slow Burn Holtzbert, Stitches, but we will get there I swear, lesbian time, lets go, lots of fluff but also a little adventure, whoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 16:32:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15465504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holtzexmachina/pseuds/Holtzexmachina
Summary: When the ghostbusters get called to a bust, things heat up pretty quickly.And not just with the ghost...





	1. In the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back! This time with chapters... ooh....
> 
> Enjoy guys :)

It was cold. 

 

Like, winter was meant to be cold, but this was sub zero, pipes freezing, three pairs of socks in the office cold.

 

Erin had been sat shivering at her desk for almost two hours working. Holtzmann was tinkering with some new toy at her work table, nodding her head to a song only she could hear.

Erin got up from her desk and said to Holtzmann, "Hey, I'm going to go make cocoa. You want one?"

"Nah, I'm good."

She was slightly disappointed when Holtz didn't even look at her, then shook her head, wondering why she should want her to.

She headed downstairs, where Abby and Patty were sat working. 

"You guys want cocoa?"

"Yeah!" They both replied. 

Just as Erin went to make them all some cocoa, Kevin walked in. "Hey guys, someone phoned in but they clearly needed the fire crew instead so I hung up."

"Wait, what did they say, Kevin?" Abby replied quickly,shooting a panicked glance at the others. After the 'goat' incident, they always double checked.

"Well, they said their house was on fire and there was a big man with an axe who was on fire too."

They all paused and looked at each other again.

"I'LL GET THE CAR!" Patty shouted, as they hurriedly packed up and ran off to get their jumpsuits.

"Erin, you get Holtz!" Abby shouted, already halfway down the stairs. 

"Holtz! We got a bust!" Erin shouted up to the second floor. There were several loud bangs, and then a door slammed, and next thing a flash of blonde hair whizzed past on the fire pole down to the lockers.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOO!" Holtz shouted as she slid down.

 

Erin smiled and rolled her eyes, and went to get her own jumpsuit.

 


	2. A hot mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FIRE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter ended up being longer than I intended, but I kind of got into a flow so hey ho.

When they arrived at the house, all their faces were aghast. Except for Holtzmann, who had a massive grin on her face.

The once grand mansion was now a blazing ruin, black smoke pouring into the sky, and flames engulfing every inch of the building. At first glance it would have just looked like a house fire, but then they noticed, the fire was not burning anything. It had broken the windows and charred the walls, but the building was intact.

"What is goin' on with this creepy ass fire?" Patty whispered.

Then they heard it, the ear splitting screech from inside the house that made their blood run cold. 

"Holy moly, that's quite a cracker ya got there!" Holtzmann said excitedly as she practically jumped out of the car.

The others followed, albeit somewhat slower.

A woman ran out to greet them. Her eyes were wide, and her clothes were all scorched. "P-p-please help me! It's destroying everything! "

"Well yes, it has set the whole building on fire. Sort of." Holtz exclaimed, still wearing a massive grin. Despite the situation, Erin almost laughed at the goofy engineer. Abby scowled before cutting in, "Don't worry, we can deal with it like professionals." She put extra emphasis on that last word, whilst staring intensely at Holtzmann, who just rolled her eyes.

Leaving the panic stricken woman on the other side of the road, the ghostbusters moved towards the house.

"Alright, packs on everyone!" Abby shouted over the roars coming from inside the house.

They made their way up to the door and moved inside the big house.

Almost as soon as they were inside, a gigantic fireball hurled down the long hallway towards them. They all screamed and jumped through the doorways closest to them, narrowly missing the fireball. Slowly, they stuck their heads out and looked cautiously down the hallway. 

They all gasped at what they saw.

Standing, or rather, floating, at the end of the hall by the stairs was a flaming man, at least 10 feet tall. His eyes and mouth were pits of lava, and his whole body was on fire. It stood on the stairs, breathing steam, holding an axe made of burning coal. After scanning the room looking for the intruders, it flew up into the air, screeched loudly and vanished.

The intruders, who had shot panicked looks at each other and physically restrained Patty from screaming, were now slowly walking towards the stairs to what was left of the upper floor of the house. On Abby's signal, they split up, Erin and Holtzmann going upstairs, and Abby and Patty staying to search the ground floor. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooh screeching mysterious monster... actually really enjoying writing this hope you like the next chapter! Gets a bit angsty and personal next....


	3. Love burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holtzmann Gilbert fluff and sad back story.

The group split up, and Erin and Holtz went off towards the upper floor of the house.

As they were carefully making their way up the stairs, Erin noticed Holtz had stopped grinning, and her hands were trembling as they held her proton gun.

"Hey." She said, stopping and turning to face the engineer, "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just... ah never mind. Let's go catch us a ghost!" She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

She made to run off up the stairs, but Erin grabbed her arm to stop her. "Hey, no what is it? You can tell me. I'm worried about you." 

Holtz hesitated, and then sighed deeply. "Well, I never told anyone, but my mother died in a fire. We'd had a fight that day, and I stormed out. I calmed down and went back to apologise and make up, but when I got back the house had burned down and they told me she hadn't made it out. It was years ago, but I still can't deal with anything bigger than a fireplace. I guess I'm just jittery."

"Oh my gosh Holtz, I am so sorry-"

Holtz cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Ah, it was years ago. I'll be okay. But you got pretty worried about me there, huh Gilbert?" She gave Erin a sly smirk, and the physicist tried to hide the blush she felt rise in her cheeks.

"I worry about everything."

"True, Gilbert, very true." Erin thought she sounded sad, but blamed it on thinking about her mother.

They carried on up the stairs in silence.


	4. We will go down in flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MORE FIRE
> 
> Also some graphic violence and description of injuries, just so you are warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got a bit intense, sorry about that.
> 
> Exciting though, so enjoy it!

They only saw the ghost when it knocked them both flying through a wall.

 

They had just got to the top of the stairs, and into one of the bedrooms, when it charged at them and threw them out on to the landing.

They both landed hard on their backs, wincing as they got back to their feet. 

"Holtz? Erin?!?" Abby shouted, as her and Patty charged up the stairs towards the ruckus. 

"Man's got a good throwing arm, I'll give him that." Holtz groaned as she picked her gun off the floor and shook the debris out of her mop of blonde hair. In the action, it had come partly undone, so loose blonde curls fell down over her face. Erin had never noticed before that she had long hair; it was always up over her head in that elaborate mess of bobby pins and hairspray. She noted how beautiful the engineer looked in the light of the ghostly fire, ash on her face, adrenaline pumped.

 

She only realised she was staring when she was jolted back to reality by the sound of another section of wall crashing, and the ghost man charging through on to the landing, turning to face the ghostbusters.

"Come on girls," Abby shouted, reaching for her gun, "let's get this motherfucker."

 

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They all got their proton guns and ran towards the ghost. They shot fireballs out of the air as fast as it could throw them, explosions right and left marking their path. 

"NOW!" Abby screamed over the screeches of the ghost. They all shot their guns, beams shooting out at the flaming spectre.

The ghost dodged their fire, and reached for Erin, who was closest to it. As it went to grab her, she shut her eyes, knowing she should not get out of this. But, instead of the fiery clutch of the ghost's fist, she felt hands shoving her aside, and heard a scream of pain she had never heard before. She opened her eyes to see a flash of blonde in the ghost's grasp, and her heart skipped a beat. 

"HOLTZMANN!" She screamed. She shot a beam from her gun, tears streaming down her ashen face. Her stream hit the hand holding Holtzmann, and the ghost screeched and dropped her, and she went flying across the landing. She landed, and lay motionless on the ground. Erin wanted to run to her, but the ghost let out another piercing screech, and turning to face it, she shot another blast from her gun.

Abby and Patty were beside her, shooting at the ghost. Abby got the trap, and rolled it out on to the floor. The ghost screeched, swinging its axe wildly as they slowly pulled it closer to the trap, and threw a fireball straight at Patty. She managed to dodge it, but it scorched the fabric on her arm, and she screamed as it burned the skin.

Erin and Abby carried on pulling at the ghost, and after a long struggle, they saw the flash of light and the fading scream of the ghost as it fell into the trap.

They shut off their packs, and Patty collapsed to the ground.

"I'll see to her, you go check on Holtzmann!" Abby shouted.

Erin ran over to where the engineer lay motionless. She saw the scorched jumpsuit, the burned skin on her arms, torso and legs. Her face, luckily, was mostly untouched, apart from a sear across her right cheek. Erin traced along it with her thumb, tears filling her eyes. "We have to call an ambulance, Holtz is really bad!" She choked out to Abby. 

"Patty looks okay, I'm calling 911 now!" Abby replied.

Erin turned back to the unconscious charred form below her. She took her and cradled her in her arms.

"I'm so sorry Holtzmann. This was all my fault." She broke down in tears. In the distance, sirens sounded as the ambulance sped towards the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. That was a ride. ER and hospital fluff next. Don't worry it ends happily I swear.


	5. When the storm has passed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hospital fluff.

It was two days after the bust at the mansion, and Erin sat in a chair by a hospital bed, where her friend, and possibly the most important person in her life, lay unconscious because of her.

Holtzmann had suffered third degree burns in her encounter with the flaming spectre, and had not yet woken up. The doctors had said she would heal, but it would take time, and the scars might never fade.

The question Erin had been asking herself over and over for two days was, why?

Why did Holtzmann almost sacrifice her own life to save her?

The answer was blindingly obvious to Abby and Patty, who had merely sighed and said "Figure it out yourself, you dummy." But Erin just couldn't see it. She loved Holtzmann, more than anyone or anything, but to her it was impossible that someone that amazing could ever have feelings for her, let alone take third degree burns at the hands of a vengeful fire ghost.

 

So, she just sat by her bedside, crying, feeling guilty, feeling like she should be lying there instead.

 

                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After three days, Holtzmann woke up.

And honestly, she could not have woken up to anything better than seeing Erin Gilbert lying sound asleep on a chair next to her. She looked awful, like she hadn't left the hospital at all.

Wait. Had she been here the whole time?

How long even was the whole time?

She went to change her position and nearly blacked out from the pain that hit her ribs. She looked down and saw she was covered in bandages, and her skin was red and blistered.

A doctor came and spoke to her, and told her what happened, and told her Erin had stayed the whole time, refusing to leave, so they just left her there. Holtz smiled at the thought of Erin getting all angry and fighting a doctor. Ooh, or better yet a nurse! She fantasized the possibilities for a while when she heard a groan from her right.

 

"Hey you." She whispered to the sleepy Erin.

"Hey." She replied, before getting a confused look on her face, and as she woke up she realised who it was. 

"HOLTZ oh my god are you ok? How are you feeling? I can't believe you did that what were you thinking?"

Holtz laughed. "Whoah there, calm down. I am fine, apart from searing pain in my midsection, and I did it because.." here she faltered, "b-because I care about keeping my friends safe."

When she said the word friends, she sounded unsure, like the word had a sour taste in her mouth.

"Well it was still stupid." Erin replied. She had felt hurt when she heard Holtzmann friendzone her like that, but she never expected anything else.

Holtz noticed Erin's tone. Time to take a leap.

"I'm not sure I wouldn't have only done it for you though." Holtz whispered after a while.

"What?" Erin whispered back.

"Taking the bullet like that. I think I did it because it was you."

Erin felt her pulse quicken. 

She was going to come up with some dismissing remark, she was going to let it go. But then she thought. This woman had risked her life for her. She had almost died. Erin nearly lost the love of her life. She knew now, there was not time to spend dodging around the things you secretly want.

These thoughts span round her head so fast she hardly realised when she leaned over suddenly and gently cupped Holtz's cheek, and in a second had pressed her lips to Holtzmann's. After a few seconds, she pulled away slowly, still holding her cheek in her hand. 

"Jillian..." She whispered.

When she opened her eyes, Holtz locked them with her own, and they sat there, gazing at each other. 

 

Erin spoke up with a laugh. "Still stupid though."

 

They both sat and laughed, and talked, and kissed, and Erin knew everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY THEY FINALLY MADE IT (or made out whichever)
> 
> Anyway I thought this was a good place to end it, hope you guys enjoyed my second attempt at holtzbert fluff with a bit of adventure thrown in!
> 
> Let me know thoughts, and any prompts are welcome!


End file.
